Judge denies Lemons’ motion for a bond reduction
DIXON – Despite new information coming to light, a Lee County Judge Wednesday denied a reduction in the $2 million bond for a 28-year-old Ashton man charged with bludgeoning an acquaintance in early April.
During the hearing Wednesday, Lee County Public Defender Bob Thompson said the bond set for Eric M. Lemons is unreasonable considering the circumstantial evidence against him, the inconsistent statements of the state’s key witness, and the possibility of other potential suspects – mostly felons.
“He could be sitting in jail as an innocent man,” Thompson said.
He said he will meet with the state appellate defender in the next week to decide whether to appeal Judge Ron Jacobson’s ruling.
Lemons is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of Todd Harn, also 28 and of Ashton, who was found in a pool of blood in his apartment on April 5. Harn was killed by a blow to the head with a landscaping rock, investigators have said.
Thompson also said that the bond was excessive given Lemons’ lack of a felony record and that Lemons is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
Thompson cited interviews with a number of witnesses and law officers during Wednesday’s hearing.
Harn was a known drug dealer who was selling a cocaine “look-alike” that consisted of baking powder and headache powder and who had a number of customers who were “very angry with him,” Thompson said. Lemons was not among them, he added.
A year before his death, Harn sent a letter to the Lee County Sheriff’s Department in which he said he feared for his life because of his work as a confidential informant for the Blackhawk Area Task Force, Thompson said.
Lee County Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Buh said the $2 million bond was appropriate because of the brutal nature of the crime.
Lemons told police he was at Harn’s apartment that night and saw him dead on the floor. He left, built a bonfire and burned the shoes he was wearing because they may have had blood on them, Buh said.
“This defendant never called police officers after seeing a dead body,” Buh said. “What did he do? He avoided it. This is a person who will flee jurisdiction.”
Thompson countered that although Lemons did not call police that night or the next day, he did not leave the area and was at home when he was arrested.
Thompson also pointed to statements made by Kaylyn Gideon, Harn’s roommate, who discovered his body. After initially telling police she knew nothing about Harn’s murder, she changed her story and told them Lemons had killed Harn, he said.
Gideon, 21, of Ashton, is charged with obstructing justice and is being held on a $100,000 bond. Police say she gave Lemons cleaning supplies to clean up the apartment, the area around Harn’s body and the rock.
Thompson noted Gideon’s journals, in which she wrote that she was “desperately in love” with her other male roommate.
After the homicide, police put Gideon up in a hotel and she and the roommate called each other several times. It was only after those calls that Gideon told police Lemons was the killer, Thompson said.
What’s next
Murder defendant Eric M. Lemons, 28, of Ashton, has a July 8 hearing on a motion to suppress statements. That motion was filed Wednesday.
